reggaelink.com Exclusive "Sean Paul: Inner-View"

It’s another beautiful afternoon in Houston, and not just because it’s 70 degrees, sunny and bright, but because today, Sean Paul is in town and reggaelink.com is going to link up with him to talk about his new album, “The Trinity” and get to know him a little deeper.


AN INNER-VIEW WITH SEAN PAUL
By susie@reggaelink.com

I arrived with my friend at the executive hotel suite where an Atlantic Records rep, James, greeted us with the nicest hospitality and let us know that Sean Paul was just getting up after a very, very late night but that he was on his way. I glanced at the door more than once envisioning his entry and thoughts ran through my head like, “he’s gonna walk through that door any minute…will I hug him or shake his hand? What will I say?” I was star-struck and giddy. I asked my friend to go back down to the ride to get my spliff.... As I set up the room, reviewed my questions, and got my Sharpie ready for my autograph, there was a light knock on the door and a few street team members strolled in, all decked out in “The Trinity” t-shirts, posters in hand, and with more t-shirts on their shoulders. I hear them exchange about how much sleep they didn’t get last night because they were tagging the town with Sean Paul promos, but these were not complaints, it was sort of like, acknowledging the grind and that this is what it takes, and that last nite, was one of those nights. They continued to spar, laugh, and tell stories as they decorated the suite with posters. The doorbell rang, was it “Sean”? Close, it was his brother, who quietly checked out the scene and poured a glass of water at the mini bar. I continued to get settled and chat to the guys who were telling funny street team stories… one of them got on the phone and made a call to room service for hot tea for Sean. He asks the guys “Hey, who gave the lady at the desk a cd?”… one shouted “I did.”, He said “She says “thank you!” and he jokes, if you could speed up that hot tea, I’ll get you an autograph….” It was impressive to see the dedication all of the people behind the scenes who work with Atlantic to promote Sean Paul.
This call to room service predicted his soon arrival, so I discreetly stepped outside to the balcony overlooking the Galleria area and took a quick draw behind the curtains to sekkle my nerves… Before I knew it, Sean was in the room, backed behind his road manager who was probably also his bodyguard. Sean was wearing his darkest shades, a camo cap with his braids hanging out the back, jeans, a wrinkled t-shirt and a black jacket. It looked like he was thrown together in 2 seconds and he was extremely sexy and cozy at the same time! Sean was formally introduced to each of people in the room, and when it was my turn, I introduced myself, extended my hand, and he greeted me with a hug and a smile. I thought to myself, yeah..this is going to be good…He thanked me for fixing his jacket collar, and I asked if he was ready. He patted one of the stools as if to tell me to have a seat, and we began…

Thank you so much for spending time with us today.
Thanks for having me.

So, how do you like Houston?
Houston is always good, nah mean? Houston’s been good from day one, so I’m good.. glad to be here…

Good, and we’re glad to have you. Soooooo,….how does it feel to be an international heart-throb?
He smiles…Feelin’ good, nah mean? I can’t deny that. It’s hot… I’m doing this music to reach out to ladies to let them know they’re sexy, I love them, so when ya’ll tell me back what’s goin’ on.. I feel good yeah…

So….how does it feel to be a reggae ambassador?
To partake in my culture and take it throughout around the world, there’s nothing like that… good feelin, it’s a good feelin.

The music on the The Trinity is mostly, if not solely, produced by Jamaican producers… how important is it to you to keep dancehall it as real as it can be?
To keep it as real as it can be, to keep it up to the standard of what the great tradition of music and musicians have done already in Jamaica, that sound is very important to me, nah mean? ‘Cuz it’s our history, music is something like that, I just give thanks to be at the forefront right now, there’s other people who have been in the forefront, there’s people who still in the forefront, and each one of us, to me, I consider as reggae soldiers.

I agree.
Yes ma’am.

So how has winning a Grammy changed things for you?
Those things are marks of I guess, distinction, for people, but from the beginning, just to be able to write a song, I remember sitting down in a chair at night, writing these songs, when I’m supposed to be studying for school, at about 16-17,
Feelin it…
Yeah, that was the best feeling ever, so I still have that feeling when I’m able to write songs..
That’s great..it’s like a blessing, ya know? You’re talented..
Yeah, mos def…

Do you play any instruments?
Yeah, I play by ear [he gestures playing air piano] I can pick out stuff on keyboard, but also, [he gestures playing air guitar] I been learning some chords on the guitar …so that’s stepping up…Whether I’ll be playing for the public, remains to be seen.

Yeah, you gotta do that!!
But I did write a song, off of learning a couple guitar chords, called Time Rolls On and to me, it’s one of my most political pieces right now. It was supposed to be for the album but it didn’t make it. So, if you go to a Target store and buy the album, you’re gonna get an extra CD which is this song.
It’s talking about leaders, it’s talking TO the leaders, leaders of religion, leaders of government, leaders of street gangs, asking them—“When are we ever gonna live together? As time rolls on, what’s gonna happen in the future?”
[he continues]
For thousands of years, leaders ask us to follow them, we do, and we follow them into war with each other so… [shrugs]. That song I wrote with the chords and guitar…
That’s niiiice…
I didn’t actually play the music…
But you wrote it…
Yeah, it’s my most conscious effort so far I guess yeah…
Cool, so I know that you’re very close to your brother…
Yeah
…and that he travels with you and you’re very close to your mom, so how has your parent’s and brother’s influence helped you as an entertainer and as a person? How important is it to you to maintain a close family relationship?
Well family is just important. You have to remember where I come from, nah mean, that’s me.
Moms grew me up nah mean, like most moms is growing up the rest of the world, fi real. My moms grew me up…
Famous painter…
Yeah, she was a painter in Jamaica, and also my grandma, to me that’s just closeness right there.
My brother now, he’s my greatest critic I could say, I say greatest because he’s the realest one.
And sometimes where I’m here in these interviews or I’m on stage doing something, he’s able to be this decision making process that has to go on. You’re a artist, and
he’s there to answer questions that I would be like, no, Sean won’t, do not, like that, don’t even do that, don’t go there or he’s there to say, yeah go ahead, he would approve of that… he’s my second voice. He knows me best.
Also, he’s been producing with me, he produced two tracks on this album, one call “All on Me” and one call “Change the Game”, and he also wrote songs with me, like “Get Busy” and he helped me write “We Be Burning”, nah mean?

Very intertwined…
Yeah, there’s a silent part to my career. I was doing it from the beginning, [but] when I start to blow up 2001-2002, there was nothing much to lean back on except for my blood… there’s a lot of things that you have to deal with sometimes.
Sometimes stars are people with all this importance and these hectic schedules, lean on managers and what not. I lean on my team, but I do lean on my brother for most of the things…

It’s a beautiful thing that you have that.
[He nods once deeply.]

Cool so, you might know that the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan held the Millions More Movement recently,
Um hmm..
I’m glad that you knew about it, cuz some people, I’m surprised, didn’t know about it..but they spoke about the non-action of the government to save the Katrina victims, the levee-breaking conspiracy, and this was basically a call for people to come together, organize, and make a change. So, what is your advice to your fans who believe in these efforts and want to make a change?
Well you know, it only takes one belief to change certain things.
As a kid I was told anything you don’t like in life right now, that you don’t think is right, or you’re trying to see that change, you can change that when you grow up, you have that responsibility, you have to be in the right place at the right time though.
So, all it takes is the one idea, and maybe a few hundred years, but we can keep talking about it, we can keep revolutionizing things.
People think that a revolution is jus’ supposed to be BOOM one time, but it’s not, it’s about that one idea.
So when they hold these conferences and forums, to talk about ideas, that’s the first stage of the revolution, nah mean?
That’s the first stage of wanting to change something, is to talk about it, it’s the same steps as if you want to pick something up with your hand, your brain tells your hand, “Do that man…”
Starts in your mind...
Starts in your mind, that’s my point
And then you take action…
Yeah, and the action can be, nah mean, starts in the mind, and you’re like, “Ok.” and so every time some instance comes up where it’s basically physically against what you thought about, you can start making that change by saying, “No, physically that’s to change to something else” and just that one idea -- that’s important, to keep the idea alive.

On your album you talk about the passing of a close childhood friend, Daddigan, who was influential to the start of your career, he even named the Dutty Cup crew, so with so much violence and senseless murder, what advice do you give to the youth about dealing with the shocking news of losing a friend due to murder?
Boy, um..To deal with it, I dunno…the way I dealt with it was to write about it. It gave me a lot of um..…
inspiration…
Yeah, and to be able to release and say, “Alright I’mma let you guys go, cuz I’m not gonna see you anymore, this world is gonna be a little bit different now, it’s never gonna be the same.”
To me, he died for, not for no reason, you can’t say he didn’t live for anything, he did live for something, but he died for a stupid reason,
murder…
Yeah, mistaken identity, people shootin’ up for nothing.
I just want to say something to people, to black people in general, when u all killin’ each right there on the street, not thinking about each other’s circle of life, or nothing, I want you to realize you’re making Willie Lynch happier, you’re making man like, Adolf Hitler, you’re making their spirit happier, wherever those people may be…you’re making people who indulge in murder that way, and we dun come thru 400 years of blood sweat and tears to reach into this point where, people like the Willie Lynch’s... he wrote this big thing, I don’t know if people know…
Willie Lynch? yeah……
Yeah, Willie Lynch wrote this big thing, saying how to control slaves, and a lot of it have to do w/jealousy and breaking down your own morals and this love for your brother, and so I see it existing today. You’re making KKK happy when u do that you know what I mean? And if I can’t appeal to no other side of them, I think that alone. Because a lot of people still, is like, “Yo, I’m a black man” and this and that…and then they go killin’ their brothers…I don’t understand that.
And so to me, in that song, “Time Rolls On”, I wrote something in it also, the most powerful line to me is,.. “War is so un-clever.”
And to me, the human being is supposed to have the biggest capacity for understanding shit, nah mean? And we supposed to be able to grasp many things, and we can’t up to now grasp the concept of peace.. or just walking away from that situation. War has a lot to do with jealousy in a sense…
greed..
It has a lot to do with greed; it got a lot to do with, not thinking about the other people’s situation -- being thought-less. And we have the most powerful brain right here on this earth, so why we don’t use it?

I know that you have an interest Egyptology, what drew you to the pyramids of Egypt and what did you take away from that whole experience?
I think well, my grandmother. I was able to fulfill a big dream of hers to bring her over there…
Oh that’s niiice…
From I was a kid, she was like, “Yo, I love those places..” and I was like, “But why though?” and she said, “Look at those big…”, and she showed me, “..look at those big rocks. These people was moving around, they had some form of knowledge and workmanship together, to be able to come together to construct that thing, whatever it was, technology, or just that they were hard working”, nah mean?
But that society in general, I didn’t realize it last for, when I grew up, I read about it more, and it last for 4,000 years. And we only been here, like in the modern world, called “modern society” only about 2000 odd years old.
So that gap, I’m trying to bridge the gap and understand and learn what happened to them. It’s an awe-inspiring thing, to stand there, where sand covered it up for thousands of years too, and people came and found these things, and was like, “Whoa, what is this from, it look like some space ship thing…” nah mean?
rriiight…it’s crazy, I know…
Yeah it is..

You’re quoted as saying “Life is a gift and you must treasure it, we’re all here for a certain period of time and we’re all gonna leave one day.” Describe the type of legacy you hope to leave.
Ahh, I just hope to be remembered as a positive youth, nah mean, and I’ve contributed towards my culture and take me to the rest of the international community. I just want to be considered for that. I know I’ll be remembered for the flow and for the crazy melodies that I got…
Yeahhhhhhh……
…so, give thanks every day. Um, I just hope I made a difference ya know..?
Straight..Well again, thank you so much for spending time with me today..
Thank you..Nuff love
Nuff love…
And continue to do your great works…
Yeah..
and we’re proud of you, we love you, no matter what, we’re right here beside you..
Thank you baby …nuff love.
[Sean leans in for a polite kiss on the cheek.. I pretty much die..]
MWAAH! Cool…

That was it! He hugged me and I took a few pictures with him and he autographed my CD. He drew his logo on it, a sketch of a head smoking a spliff--- Yes, it was another beautiful day in Houston, Texas. It was time for him to go to the radio station so we all left.
He hopped in to the very back seat of a 12-passenger van and was off to do more promotions… ahh…the life!!
As a long-time fan, I was eagerly anticipating this inner-view. I had only heard great things about Sean Paul--the person, before…that he was the most humble, polite and kindest man, who walks in a cloud of smoke… and after today, I knew it for myself to be true.

“The Trinity” is in stores now and it continues to break sales records. It is the highest-selling reggae album ever to be released and is currently gold at the time of this interview. Remember that if you buy the CD at Target, you will get a bonus CD with the song that Sean Paul composed on the guitar. And if you want more Sean Paul, check out this little teaser promo:
win hi, win med, win lo,real


Check out the exclusive reggaelink.com drop! Dutty yeah!